


People Will Keep Being People

by expolsion



Series: Infinity War [1]
Category: Ant-Man (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Valhalla, all of my favs who were ignored are in this, and actual deaths, everyone meets everyone, infinity war rewrite (kinda), lotta sad, part of a series, the big alien wheel is an important thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 06:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15261612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/expolsion/pseuds/expolsion
Summary: “The thing about wars, is that people will keep being people. They love, they laugh, they party. It's not something you can stop. You can't spend the whole war with a gun in your hands, shooting your way through enemy lines. You have to keep living.”Infinity War, but it’s actually a war. It’s brutal, it’s long, it’s grueling, and depressing. Feat. all of my favorite characters who were IGNORED in Infinity War, like Scott and Cassie Lang (except Cassie is a teenager, and Stature), Valkyrie, and the Hawkeyes.





	People Will Keep Being People

**Author's Note:**

> So! This is probably going to be pretty long, hopefully I can keep it coming! There were far too many relationships to tag, so I'll add them by chapter upload. Most of them are going to be platonic, but I know some romantic relationships can make people put down a fic (which is fair), so as a warning, here are the ones I'm considering: stony, thruce, amerikate, and some canon ones. If you don't like that, that's fine! I hope you have a nice day. Also, this isn't a promise that those will happen, they're just probabilities. 
> 
> Other important things! Cassie is about 17, because I love Young Avengers, and I love her as Stature. So really, this is more comicsverse Langs. I mean, I'm just making shit up as I go along... and fair warning, I'll probably drag the Young Avengers into this as well. I love them, okay!? And, the Clint in this is NOT MCU Clint! Comics Clint is far superior, so that's who I'm using :)
> 
> WE ARE COMIC CLINT STANS FIRST AND MCU CLINT BULLIES SECOND

Peter was still in shock. First of all, he was in outer space. Like, holy _shit_. He was in actual OUTER SPACE, fighting ALIENS, with AVENGERS!

 

He needed to sit down.

 

Mr. Stark had found a way to plug F.R.I.D.A.Y. into the mainframe of the ship, and the A.I. ran it from there, navigating so Earth wasn’t in a pathway of destruction anymore, and unlocking doors they couldn’t force open.

 

After the whole fight with “Squidward”, as Mr. Stark had dubbed him, Peter was absolutely wired. He couldn’t stand still. He found himself pacing, walking across the room, up the wall, across the ceiling, back down, and across the room again. He could look anywhere but straight in front of him, and it felt like the surface of his skin was buzzing. He felt really weird, like everything was normal, but it all existed slightly to the left.

“Kid?” Mr. Stark’s voice came from above him, sounding strained. “I’m gonna need you to stop the pacing, like, yesterday.”

Peter looked down and saw Mr. Stark rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, looking exhausted, and immediately dropped from the ceiling, landing softly with a quiet _thunk_.

Mr. Stark looked up at Peter, and his face changed from angry to concerned. “Hey, kiddo, are you okay?”

Peter guessed his unease was written all over his face. “Yeah, I’m fine, Mr. Stark.” He hated how much his voice shook. “Don’t need to worry about me!” He ended with an awkward laugh.

Mr. Stark stared at him with his patented I’m-Not-Buying-That Look, and Peter dropped the facade.

“I don’t,” he started, choking on the words. “That guy, he’s—He’s just dead! And like, I know he was trying to kill us so, like, we had to, but he’s just… he’s dead. Forever. Permanently.” He stopped, breathing heavily. “I think… I think I just need a nap.”

Mr. Stark looked panicked. “Yeah, okay.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. took this as the perfect opportunity to chime in. “There are 1,344 beds on this ship. I can lead you to one.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that.” Mr. Stark muttered, half to Peter, but mostly to himself. “Uh, F.R.I.D.A.Y., we’re completely sure no one else is on this hunk of metal, right?”

“Absolutely sure, boss.”

“Alright, great. Lead the way.”

 

A door swung open behind them, revealing a long hallway with lights flickering on one by one.

“Oh, nice, F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Mr. Stark muttered, pushing Peter lightly in front of him. “‘Cause that’s not ominous at all.”

 

Peter let himself be pushed down the hallway. They turned right and were greeted by another long hallway, this one with all the lights on and with all the doors open. Beds could be seen in every room, and the rooms seemed to stretch on endlessly. Wordlessly, Peter walked into the first room. 12 beds, all looking exactly the same, were placed in the room, 6 per side. It reminded Peter of one of those orphanages in the movies, with the metal bed frames painted white and stark white sheets folded nicely on top of scratchy polyester blankets.

 

Shakily, he sat down on the nearest bed. Thanos really did not splurge on the sleeping quarters. The beds felt like they were just wood, the fluorescent lights were too bright, and all the bolts were showing on the metal panelling of the walls.

“Hey, Fri?” Peter called out weakly, with his head in his hands and his eyes squeezed shut, “Could you turn the lights down?”

“Sure thing.” The lights dimmed so everything was just barely illuminated. Peter opened his eyes, feeling like he could finally breathe again.

 

He took off both suits, his original spandex, and the cool new one Mr. Stark had just given him, leaving both next to the bed in a pile on the floor. He was left in the jeans and t-shirt he had put on for school today. Shit. School. He laughed, thinking about how far away and unimportant that all felt. He didn’t even have shoes anymore! He felt tears well up in his eyes. He didn’t even know why he felt like crying. He sat back down on the bed, sitting up against the headboard, bringing his knees to his chest and pressing his face into them.

 

“You okay, kid?”

He’d forgotten Mr. Stark was still there. “Yeah.” He said, but he knew he didn’t sound very convincing.

Mr. Stark coughed awkwardly. “Alright. I’ll leave you to take a nap. I’m heading back to the main control room. Ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. if you need anything, or if you need me.”

Peter nodded, before remembering Mr. Stark couldn’t really see him anymore. “Okay.”

Mr. Stark stood there for a minute, before whispering, “Feel better, kiddo,” and turning on his heel and leaving.

 

And Peter was alone.

  


* * *

 

Tony sat on the last stair leading into the main control room, flipping his cell phone around in his hands. Well, you couldn’t call it a room, per say. It was more like a depression in the middle of the big area. Which also was barely a room. Suffice to say, the architecture of this ship annoyed him.

 

He could feel Strange’s eyes burning a hole in his back. He stood up, and turned to face the other man. “Can I help you?” He asked, incredulously.

Strange’s indifferent expression betrayed none of what he was thinking. “Is the boy okay?”

“Peter?” Tony asked, annoyed. He was getting loud. He could tell he was getting loud. But he was frustrated, okay??

“You can call him Peter, you know, he has a name—” He started advancing towards Strange. “Not that you would know it, cause you don’t CARE ABOUT ANYTHING—” He was yelling. He stopped himself in his tracks, holding his hands in front of him, parallel to the floor, trying to breathe. Looking up, he could see Strange’s expression still hasn’t changed. He turned around, unable to look at Strange without getting pissed off. “Fri? You ready to boost this cell signal to earth?”

“Ready, boss.”

“Alright.” He unlocked the phone he was still holding, and hit the smiling face of one James Rhodes.

The line rang a few times, before a very stressed out Rhodey answered. “Tony?”

“Hey… Can you do me a favor?”

 

* * *

 

A extremely annoyed Rhodey walked quickly through the streets of Forest Hills, heading towards the Parkers’ apartment. He hadn’t been able to get away from work for hours, and now that he had he was worried something would go even more wrong than it already was.

 

“A favor,” he muttered to himself, darting through crowds of people on the sidewalk. “A favor, my ass. There’s an international crisis, Tony, you asshole, didn’t you fucking notice—” He stopped, realizing he had reached their apartment. Hesitantly, he rang the buzzer with “Parker” written next to it.

After a few seconds, a woman answered. “Hello?” That must be ‘Aunt May’.

“This is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. Can we speak in your apartment?”

The speaker was silent for a minute. Rhodey could only imagine this poor woman’s panic.

The response was quiet. “Okay.” The light turned green, and the door unlocked. He felt a little bad using his status to intimidate her, but he knew it had to be done. She needed to know.

 

The elevator was playing “The Final Countdown”. It unsettled him.

 

He knocked on the door to the Parker apartment.. May opened the door, worry and fear written all over her face. He felt a little guilty, showing up in full military garb while her child had been missing for nearly a day. He could only imagine what she was feeling.

“Ms. Parker.”

She didn’t say anything, but motioned for him to come inside. So he did. It was a nice apartment. Didn’t seem too small, and definitely felt like a home.

May closed the door behind him. “Please, sit down.” She said, gesturing to the couch. They both took an awkward seat.

“I’m here about Peter.”

May’s face turned white. She opened her mouth to speak, but stalled, unable to form any words.

Rhodey panicked. “He’s fine! Well, for now.”

May looked about ready to cry with relief, and then went immediately back to panicked, but this time with a fair share of anger. That’s when Rhodey realized what he said.  
“That’s not a threat!” He nearly yelped, a bit worried for his safety, due to to the look May was giving him.

May relaxed a little.

“Tony just called me. He wanted someone to talk to you in person.”

May didn’t react or respond, she just stared at him. Rhodey was pretty sure he was going to die before this conversation was over.

“Peter forced his way into a fight. When he saw the…” Rhodey trailed off, still unsure of what to call it. “Giant wheel in the sky, he put on the suit and got as close to the action as possible. He hasn’t told us exactly what happened, but that’s what we assume went down.”

May was listening intently. “Okay, then, where is he now?”

Rhodey gulped. “Well… He’s on the giant wheel in the sky.”

May just blinked. “He… What?”

“There was a time when the wheel was close to Earth, as I’m sure you remember, and Peter jumped on.”

“He JUMPED ON?” May repeated incredulously.

“He’s safe right now, don’t worry too much, he’s with Stark and Strange—”

“OH!” May stood up, and started yelling. “So this is STARK’S doing!”

“Ms. Parker, please—”

“First, he gives my nephew a suit, and encourages him to keep doing the dangerous ‘superheroing’ that could get him killed! Now, he’s with my nephew in motherfucking SPACE—” May stopped suddenly, just staring at the wall. Then she started to cry. “He’s in motherfucking space!” She sat back down, head in her hands.

“Ms. Parker, we’re working on setting up secure communications between the ship and Earth. I’ll make sure you’re first in line to talk to the ship.”

May looked up at him, grateful.

“For the record, I think Tony will insist on that too.” He stood up. “In the meantime, please direct me to your nephew’s room, as Tony asked me to get him some clothes as well.”

 

May led him down the hallway behind the kitchen, to a room that was sparsely decorated, just some Mets memorabilia and the occasional poster. There was a bunk bed on the far wall, next to a window, and a desk next to it. May knelt next to the dresser next to the door, opening drawers and pulling out clothes.

“So, how is he going to get these?” She asked as she stood up to grab a duffel bag from the closet.

“The plan is to gather as many superheroes as we can, and send them up in a shuttle to the ship. We’ll send the bag up with them.”

May went back to the dresser, stuffing clothes into the bag carelessly. “You’re just going to leave them up there?” She questioned.  
“The ship is fully equipped to house people. It looks like Thanos was going to use it as barracks for an army against Earth, but as far as we can tell, he abandoned it. It’s got far more supplies than we need, as it was meant to house over 1,000 soldiers.”

May nodded.

“It’s got enough water, and edible food, plus medical supplies. On top of that, we happen to have a doctor on board. Your nephew may be fighting a war, but we’re doing our best to keep him safe.”

May still looked upset at the reminder that Peter was in the middle of a war, but this time didn’t look like she was about to stab Rhodey, which Rhodey took as an improvement.

“On top of that,” Rhodey continued, “Tony does care deeply about Peter’s safety. You can be sure that he’ll be a last resort. Tony would never put him on the front lines.”

“I bet that will drive Peter up the wall.” May commented.

Rhodey chuckled. “I’m sure it will.” He looked May straight in the eyes. “If something happens to Peter, Tony would never forgive himself. You know that. He’ll trade his life for Peter’s without even thinking. Just like you would.”

May nodded. “I know.”

Rhodey coughed. “Well, I think I should go now. International crisis and all that.”

“Ah. Yes, probably.” May walked with him to the door. “By the way, Rhodey…” May trailed off, like she wasn’t able to form the words. “Thank you.”

Rhodey nodded. “I’ll call you as soon as I can talk to him.”

May looked about ready to cry again. “Okay.”

Rhodey turned and left.

 

He went back to his office, not happy to be back in the middle of utter chaos. His office phone displayed 17 missed calls, and he had 346 unread emails from the past hour. He shoved the bag under his desk, and sat in his chair heavily.

“Goddamit, Tony, you pull this whole operation together.” He muttered to himself. “Or else we’re all screwed.”

 

* * *

 

“I think we’re going to have to go to space.”

Kate was lounging on the beat up couch in Clint’s apartment, fiddling with an arrow. Clint was at the kitchen sink, doing dishes for the first time in his life, as per Kate’s insistence. (“Clint, this plate has been in the sink for a week. That’s _disgusting._ ”)

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she said, and Clint could hear the sofa creaking as she shifted so she was looking at him. “Let’s see, the giant alien thing crashed into the city and went back into space, and no one’s seen Stark for at least a day or so. So, where is he?” She paused, chewing on some pretzels from the bowl on the coffee table in front of her. “He’s in space. Which means,” she drew out the ‘e’ in means for dramatic effect. “We’re going to be going up there soon, too. Official Avengers Business, and all that.”

Clint finished up with the dishes, turning off the tap and throwing the towel over his shoulder. “You know what I think?”

“More importantly, do I care?”

He chuckled at her response, then continued his thought. “I think that you just really want to go to space.”

She made a face, mocking him.

“And!” He continued, holding up the spatula he was drying accusingly. “I think you desperately want to be an Avenger.”

She gasped in fake shock. “I’ll have you know, I am an Avenger!”

“A ‘Young Avenger’, whatever the hell that is.”

She laughed. “Whatever, everyone knows I’m the better Hawkeye anyway.”

That comment was met with a snort. “In your fucking dreams!”

“I’m choosing to ignore that because we both know I’m right.”

They both quieted, thinking. Clint poured himself another cup of coffee and walked over to the couch, swatting at Kate’s legs until she moved to make room for him.

“But really, do you think we’ll have to go up there?” She asked, quieter this time. She almost sounded scared.

Clint chewed his lip, thinking. “Maybe. Anything’s possible, Katie.”

“Don’t call me Katie.” She answered back. It was their usual banter, but it was like they were only going through the motions. They sat for a minute, staring at nothing.

“I don’t want to die in space.” Kate practically whispered.

“Me neither.” Clint murmured back.

 

* * *

 

Cassie walked into the living room, finally relaxed. (At least, compared to how stressed she’d been for the past couple of hours. She plopped down on the chair next to the television that was blaring the news that had been on since the Incident, looking at her father with a slight smile on her face.

“So Kate finally picked up her phone.” She said.

“Oh, good,” Scott replied. “So what’s going on?”

“She’s fine, she just didn’t have her phone on her for a while. She was at Clint’s, and she forgot it at home.”

“Glad to hear they’re both okay.”

Cassie sighed dramatically. “God, me too. I was so worried. Seems kind of silly now…”

“It’s understandable.”

“I guess.”

Cassie coughed. “Anyway, Kate thinks we’re going to space.”

“What?”

“She was telling me all about her theory, that Stark is in space fighting the purple dick dude—”

“Watch your fucking mouth!”

“—And that he’s going to call on ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ and then some to help him out.” Cassie paused, popping a skittle into her mouth from the bowl on the table. “So… yeah.”

“Hm… Space?” Scott mused.

Cassie nodded.

“Also, the hell are you saying ‘we’ for? No matter what, you’re not going.”

“What—Dad! Why!” Cassie spluttered, sitting up quickly. “I’m an avenger, too!”

Scott laughed. “Why? ‘Cause you’re a kid! You were a _Young_ Avenger, it’s even in the name! Besides, you’re _my_ kid. Superheroin’ is dangerous stuff. I can’t let you get hurt.”

Cassie just gave him a blank stare. “Really?” She asked, incredulously.

“Really, and you’re not changing my mind.”

“Fine.” She replied, shrugging, and getting up to leave the room. She walked out calmly, not in a huff like Scott expected. Then he realized:

“AND DON’T YOU DARE SHRINK DOWN AND HIDE IN MY STUFF, I’LL MAKE THEM SCAN EVERYTHING!”

She didn’t reply.

 

Scott sighed, turning his attention back to the television that was once again showing badly cropped cell phone footage of the wheel crashing into Manhattan. He thought about what Cassie said, and if he would actually go if he was asked. “You know, for everyone’s sake,” he murmured to himself, “I hope you’re okay, Tony, wherever you are.”

**Author's Note:**

> oof, this took a lot out of me! P l e a s e leave a comment, or message me on tumblr @genderfluid-jaredkleinmann, because I REALLY want to know how I did!


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